Efficient content compression and decompression system and method

Abstract

A content compression/compression system and method are disclosed in which a pre-processing step is performed before any compression and a post-processing step is performed once a compressed piece of content is decompressed.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for compressing a piece of video content, the method comprising:
 suppressing one or more least significant raw data portions in a piece of video content to generate a pre-processed piece of video content; and 
 compressing the pre-processed piece of video content using discrete cosine transform based video compression that reduces the amount of data. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein each least significant data portion further comprises a bit-plane. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein suppressing one or more least significant raw data portions further comprises removing the one or more least significant bit-planes. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein suppressing one or more least significant raw data portions further comprises setting a plurality of bits in the one or more least significant bit-planes to a single value that is one of “1” and “0”. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264. 
     
     
       6. A method for decompressing a compressed piece of video content, the method comprising:
 decompressing a compressed piece of video content using discrete cosine transform based video compression to generate a decompressed piece of content wherein the compressed piece of video content had been pre-processed to suppress one or more least significant unconverted data portions; and 
 regenerating the suppressed one or more least significant data portions. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more least significant data portions further comprises one or more bit-planes. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein regenerating the suppressed one or more least significant data portions further comprises inserting a number of least significant bit-planes into the decompressed piece of video content based on the number of least significant bit-planes removed from an original piece of video content that was compressed. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the inserting a number of least significant bit-planes further comprises distributing a plurality of bits in each least significant bit-plane. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein distributing the plurality of bits further comprises one of inserting “0” bits into the least significant bit-plane, inserting “1” bits into the least significant bit-plane and inserting random bit into the least significant bit-plane. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264. 
     
     
       12. A method for pre-processing a piece of video content so that the piece of video content is more efficiently compressed, the method comprising:
 receiving a piece of video content wherein the piece of video content has one or more data portions including one or more least significant data portions; and 
 suppressing one or more least significant raw data portions in the piece of video content to generate a pre-processed piece of content that is compressed using discrete cosine transform based video compression that reduces the amount of data. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein each least significant data portion further comprises a bit-plane. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein suppressing one or more least significant data portions further comprises removing the one or more least significant bit-planes. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 13 , wherein suppressing one or more least significant data portions further comprises setting a plurality of bits in the one or more least significant bit-planes to a single value and the single value is one of “1” and “0”. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264. 
     
     
       17. An apparatus for compressing a piece of video content, the apparatus comprising:
 a hardware-based pre-processing unit that receives a piece of video content, the pre-pocessing unit configured to suppress one or more least significant unconverted data portions in the piece of video content to generate a pre-processed piece of content; and 
 a hardware-based encoding unit, coupled to the pre-processing unit, the encoding unit configured to compress the pre-processed piece of video content using discrete cosine transform based video compression that reduce the amount of data. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein each least significant data portion further comprises a bit-plane. 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the pre-processing unit is configured to remove the one or more least significant bit-planes. 
     
     
       20. The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein pre-processing unit is configured to set a plurality of bits in the one or more least significant bit-planes to a single value and the single value is one of “1” and “0”. 
     
     
       21. The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264. 
     
     
       22. An apparatus for decompressing a compressed piece of video content, the apparatus comprising:
 a hardware-based decoding unit that is configured to decompress a compressed piece of video content using discrete cosine transform based video compression wherein the compressed piece of video content, which had been pre-processed to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions, is decoded to generate a decompressed piece of video content; and 
 a hardware-based post-processing unit configured to regenerate the suppressed one or more least significant data portions. 
 
     
     
       23. The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more least significant data portions further comprises one or more bit-planes. 
     
     
       24. The apparatus of  claim 23 , wherein the post-processing unit is configured to insert a number of least significant bit-planes into the decompressed piece of content based on the number of least significant bit-planes removed from an original piece of content that was compressed. 
     
     
       25. The apparatus of  claim 24 , wherein the post-processing unit is configured to distribute a plurality of bits in each least significant bit-plane. 
     
     
       26. The apparatus of  claim 25 , wherein the post-processing unit is configured to insert “0” bits into the least significant bit-plane, insert “1” bits into the least significant bit-plane or insert random bit into the least significant bit-plane. 
     
     
       27. The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264. 
     
     
       28. An apparatus for pre-processing a piece of video content so that the piece of video content is more efficiently compressed, the apparatus comprising:
 a hardware-based pre-processing unit configured to receive a piece of video content wherein the piece of video content has one or more data portions including one or more least significant raw data portions; and 
 wherein the hardware-based pre-processing unit is also configured to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions in a piece of video content to generate a pre-processed piece of video content that is compressed using discrete cosine transform based video compression that reduces the amount of data. 
 
     
     
       29. The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein each least significant data portion further comprises a bit-plane. 
     
     
       30. The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the pre-processing unit is configured to remove the one or more least significant bit-planes. 
     
     
       31. The apparatus of  claim 29 , wherein the pre-processing unit is configured to set a plurality of bits in the one or more least significant bit-planes to a single value and the single value is one of “1” and “0”. 
     
     
       32. The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the discrete cosine transform based video compression is one of motion JPEG, motion JPEG 2000, H.263, MPEG-4 and H.264.